Universal City Development And Redevelopment

If Walt Disney Co. won't build a $3-billion resort in Southern California, rival MCA Inc. will. That was the message that public officials, entertainment industry executives, financial analysts and homeowners are hearing in MCA's announcement Wednesday that it plans to spend $3 billion over the next 25 years to build out its 415-acre Universal City property in the Cahuenga Pass.

Take Hollywood kitsch. Mix in Madison Avenue and a little bit of Main Street amid fireworks, gleaming Harleys and glow-in-the-dark bowling. It was all there Wednesday night as Universal Studios threw an invitation-only bash to celebrate the opening of the second and final phase of Universal CityWalk. Several thousand people ambled down the multicolored flagstone promenade sipping Cabernet, munching on sushi and engaging in that favorite local pastime--celebrity watching.

Representatives of several homeowner associations and chambers of commerce, attending a meeting Tuesday on MCA Inc.'s plans to double its development at Universal City, decided to create a coalition to fight the entertainment conglomerate's expansion proposal. They were among more than 200 people who gathered in a grand ballroom to tell county and city planners which issues to consider in an upcoming environmental review of the plans.

Using clips from Boris Karloff and Steven Spielberg films, futuristic drawings, music and toy models, Universal Studios presented its grand 25-year, $2-billion expansion plan before a sometimes skeptical county Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday. The company said the doubling of its studio, office, theme park and hotel space would create 13,000 jobs at Universal and boost tax revenues by $25 million a year.

Take Hollywood kitsch. Mix in Madison Avenue and a little bit of Main Street amid fireworks, gleaming Harleys and glow-in-the-dark bowling. It was all there Wednesday night as Universal Studios threw an invitation-only bash to celebrate the opening of the second and final phase of Universal CityWalk. Several thousand people ambled down the multicolored flagstone promenade sipping Cabernet, munching on sushi and engaging in that favorite local pastime--celebrity watching.

MCA Inc. plans to double its development of Universal City over the next 25 years by adding $3 billion in new themed hotels, shops, restaurants, offices, concert halls and sound stages--creating the first destination resort in Los Angeles and a massive new home for its sprawling entertainment businesses.

Across the street from Nancy Rowe's hilltop Cahuenga Pass home, grass grows where there used to be houses, and below that is a gigantic parking lot carved from a mountainside. With Universal City, Rowe said, came the beginning of the end of her quaint Hollywood Knolls neighborhood, where homeowners tick off their houses' long, star-studded pedigrees as easily as they introduce themselves. Now, as MCA Inc.

Using clips from Boris Karloff and Steven Spielberg films, futuristic drawings, music and toy models, Universal Studios presented its grand 25-year, $2-billion expansion plan before a sometimes skeptical county Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday. The company said the doubling of its studio, office, theme park and hotel space would create 13,000 jobs at Universal and boost tax revenues by $25 million a year.

Representatives of several homeowner associations and chambers of commerce, attending a meeting Tuesday on MCA Inc.'s plans to double its development at Universal City, decided to create a coalition to fight the entertainment conglomerate's expansion proposal. They were among more than 200 people who gathered in a grand ballroom to tell county and city planners which issues to consider in an upcoming environmental review of the plans.

If Walt Disney Co. won't build a $3-billion resort in Southern California, rival MCA Inc. will. That was the message that public officials, entertainment industry executives, financial analysts and homeowners are hearing in MCA's announcement Wednesday that it plans to spend $3 billion over the next 25 years to build out its 415-acre Universal City property in the Cahuenga Pass.

Across the street from Nancy Rowe's hilltop Cahuenga Pass home, grass grows where there used to be houses, and below that is a gigantic parking lot carved from a mountainside. With Universal City, Rowe said, came the beginning of the end of her quaint Hollywood Knolls neighborhood, where homeowners tick off their houses' long, star-studded pedigrees as easily as they introduce themselves. Now, as MCA Inc.

MCA Inc. plans to double its development of Universal City over the next 25 years by adding $3 billion in new themed hotels, shops, restaurants, offices, concert halls and sound stages--creating the first destination resort in Los Angeles and a massive new home for its sprawling entertainment businesses.